


Heal the world

by snowynight



Category: Marvel (Comics)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-26
Updated: 2012-06-26
Packaged: 2017-11-08 15:44:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/444788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowynight/pseuds/snowynight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The multiworlds are losing their creativity. It's the job of Sigil  Detective Agency to get to the problems and save the  worlds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heal the world

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to marinarusalka for betaing.

Tony and Steve were walking along the streets of Sigil on the way to their detective agency. . A Celestial passed by them, hand in hand with a fiend. A robot Modron played guitar with people of different races surrounding her. A half-elf was passing leaflets to the crowd and then broke into a fight with a centaur over the definition of rebellion and anarchy. No one paid particular concern to them. It was just a daily scene in Sigil.  
  
Sigil was... unusual. It was a place ruled by You-know-who, who could mightily destroy any gods, Abyssal lords and others who wanted to invade Sigil. But the actual administration was down to different philosophical factions, aka philosophers with clubs. Here belief did matter and was the utmost power. One without a life philosophy was seen as a weirdo and mistrusted by many.  
  
It also provided chance for business. Tony, Steve and their friends ran the Sigil Detective Agency here, helping the denizens in Sigil to solve different problems. Business was fine. They were earning enough for themselves and extra. Life was peaceful so when the client arrived Tony didn’t foresee anything out of the ordinary.  
  
Tell me again why’re we in Acheron, eating dust and generally running from the natives, thrice?” Peter asked when he was bandaging his wound. They still had their healing spell in reserve, but Peter insisted that they should be saved for greater injury.  
  
Quiet,” Steve said. It was a dark and cloudy day. The sound of battle resonated around the plane and could always be heard in the distance. But now obviously sound of war horses and carts were approaching. They lowered themselves to hide among the thorny bushes and just avoided notice by the troops marching by. The battle was unending here, with no chance of winning or cease fire. Tony didn’t see the point of it actually, but they had a job to do here. Tony thought back to the fateful day that brought them here.  
  
“I heard your agency was great problem solvers. I’m hiring you to deliver a formula to Oriam,”  
the Tiefling said. Her two horns were decorated with ribbons and her tail moved gracefully.  
  
Tony agreed. It seemed like an easy job.

* * *

 

The client’s job required them to go to a portal. When they passed through it, they arrived at the palace of the moon goddess on the day just near full Moon. The light waned and glowed, with the water wave moving. It was just like the goddess of the realm, the Moon. The first native person they saw there was a shard, a being of moonlight and luminance. The light showed through her eyes, her hair and even tips of her fingers. The shard pointed and escorted them to the Infinite Staircase.

Firstly they arrived at a formidable silver door. A person with a human upper half, serpent lower body and wings welcomed them. She introduced herself as an Illiand, but didn’t say her name. Then they started to climb the ladder.

The silver ladder was suspended in mid-air, with green vines tangling around it. When Storm asked where the staircase would lead to, the illiand explained that the staircase would only reach places with creative enterprise. Curious, Tony asked if this meant place with sentient beings, but the illiand stressed that creativity was a major factor. She warned them not to get away on themselves. If a traveller walked alone, he or she would easily be lost among the stairs because the staircase could be a complex maze in itself. Steve talked with the Illiand more about it, and she mentioned that one should look before they leap because there seemed to be some malady with the Staircase. Although Steve asked more about this, she didn’t speak more before pointing them to the Planewalker’s Guild.

The lobby of the guild was built with wood. Souvenirs from different planes hung up here. People of different races were busy working there. Tony asked a guild member about Oriam, and she said, “Oriam? I haven’t seen him since a long time ago. “The others agreed and at the end no one knew where he was. Oriam seemed to be missing in the area.

Steve asked more about Oriam, and most agreed that he kept to himself a lot of time and it was then a surprise when he started to date a sorceress Shavanistra, who was a bit “different”. Nevertheless, the guild members said, Shavanistra liked to receive new travellers and they told them the way to her home. They also talked about a Blue Mushroom area which was said to be getting dangerous. No one knew why, but they advised the team to keep away from there.

After leaving the guild, Tony and his team walked up the staircase. Then they stopped. What should be regular silver steps were tweaked and ruined. There was a portion missing and only held by spider web. When they tried to walk up through the spider web up, they found that a fiend built a lair up there. Therefore the team was forced to go down to discuss what to do with this.

“We can’t ignore the fiend,” Steve said.

Tony answered, “Can’t fight him, though, because the fiend is more powerful than us combined. It’ll be also unwise to fight him in his lair.” He looked closer at the demon’s lair and said, “I have a plan,”

“What plan?” Jan asked.

“The fiend doesn’t know much about engineering. The structure’s very fragile. If we can hit the breaking point...”

“Good plan! Let’s do it,” Jan said.

The team then looked for a suitable object. There were a lot of doors connected to the staircase, and from one they finally found a huge stone cube. Steve threw it at the place Tony pointed him to and the lair and everything fell down with it. It made a very loud sound and they heard the fiend screaming about revenge. The team couldn’t help but smile but Tony put it in his mind.

Now their task was to find Oriam. It was surprisingly easy. They heard a man asking for help from above, and when they saved him and asked his name, they discovered that the man was Oriam himself. They brought him to the guild and were rewarded by Oriam. Then the illiand thanked them and said, “Thank you for defeating the fiend. I would like to ask you for a second favour though. It has come to our attention that several places are losing their creativity because we’re losing connection to them. Can you help discover what was going on? We’ll reward you.”

Steve said yes, and the others agreed, thus starting their (mis)adventure after reporting to their client back in Sigil.

* * *

  
Another cannon shot brought Tony back to the reality. The realm they were in was one of battle. War. Conquest. The chain of command. Follow orders, and never break rank. It might be a heaven for mercenaries, and soldiers might enjoy the fun time between and within the battles. The armies were professional, even. However, all the fight was a bit too heavy for Tony's taste. He hoped that he didn’t need to come again. Such was life, he thought.

Here Steve's past experience in war contributed a lot to their escaping the notice of the armies. They were in a scout team formation, with Peter as a scout to check the environment ahead, backed up by Steve's great sword and Jan's axe. Storm was at the back, ready to back up with her cleric magic and spear. Tony was kept in the middle. He would have protested the coddling in another time, but he knew that the environment was extremely dangerous here and a squishy wizard was easy to be killed by stray bullets.

They hid among the grass and bushes in the daylight, using magic and disguise to hide and managed to avoid most if not all of the fighting. Tony’s heart did jump once when they were nearly discovered. They did run into renegade soldiers once or twice when there were no other choice for them, but a blow to the head or a spell took care of them. However, Tony’s heart was in his throat during the whole time. He wondered how Steve could manage to survive in war zones. Finally they reached their destination, the city of Iron.

The city was built on a cliff inside a formidable stone fortress. Huge ogres guarded the door to the city. They surely didn't seem welcoming. Steve frowned and said, "We’d better use something to disguise us as the locals."

They then were busy collecting materials and tried to disguise themselves. They used dust and black stone powers to darken the armour they wore and Tony’s robe so that they looked more like battle-worn soldiers. It was good enough to let them enter the city. Honestly, Tony didn't see how this city could have any creative endeavour, and whispered it to his companions.

Jan said in the same small voice, "Well, surely they have time to be creative now that they're relatively safe inside."

Tony felt doubtful but he didn't say any more.

When they got inside, they found that it was built of white marble. Tall columns were erected to support the place and reminded Tony of an ancient city on a prime world. However, soon Peter hissed that they were being tailed. Soon they were surrounded by warriors with huge steam work weapon made in Eberron. A fight seemed unavoidable, and not winnable.

Steve drew out his great sword and charged to one of the guards, forcing the guard to focus his fight on him. Jan stayed by Tony's side and marked another. Peter's daggers were fast and accurate while Tony supported them with magic. Storm's spear was formidable.

But there were more and more enforcement and the odds were against them. Steve shouted at Jan and Peter, "Run, I'll buy you time!"

"But... I can't..." Jan said, driving off one of the enemy soldier.

"Go!" Tony shouted, and summoned dark mist to temporarily blind the soldiers.

Steve, Tony and Storm were captured, but Tony was glad that they bought the others chance to escape. Tony hoped they were all right. Jan and Peter were smart, but it wasn’t a nice city.

The guards confiscated their weapons, roughed them up a bit, and thrown them in a cell with other prisoners. When the guards locked the door, a guard said, "Tomorrow you're to fight to death in a gladiator fight. I'd like to see how your friendship holds up."

“ It’ll surely make the fight more interesting,” another said.

In the cells Tony saw that the other prisoners were in varying health, most of them with their eyes blank and silent. But several of them looked at them with interest and seemed to be keen-eyed. An ogre prisoner approached them and asked, "Are you planars?"

"Yes."

"Why're you here? It's not exactly heaven to the outsider."

"We have reasons to come."

"Really?" the ogre said. She eyed Steve and said, "Let's wrestle."

"Why?"

"To establish yourself, of course. You're not a coward, right?"

"Where we come from a fight's not the solution to everything."

"But you're in Acheron now, better do what we do. Otherwise," She looked at Tony and Storm with a cunning smile.

"All right," Steve agreed. The other prisoners watched with interest and placed bet. The odd was against Steve.

They stood in the centre of the cell, separated their feet slightly, bent their knees and arched their back. They watched each other, and the atmosphere was tense.

Then Steve pounced.

The ogre was big and strong, but Steve was agile. Finally Steve distracted the ogre enough, threw her down and won the fight.

The ogre looked surprised, and then she laughed. "You're amazing. You may even survive tomorrow."

"Why don't you try to escape?" Storm asked.

"Escape? What's the point? We need to fight to our death anyway, no matter where."

"It isn't necessary. Everyone has the freedom to choose his path," Steve said.

"You forget that we're in Acheron," the ogre said, but she sounded interested.

Steve replied, "It didn't matter. A soldier might fade with time, but it was his glory to fight in a battle he chose. Give me freedom or give me death! I'd choose to die on a battle of my choice, than be used as toys against my will."

Tony noticed that the other prisoners nodded. Even he felt energized by the speech. He almost suspected that Steve was using some of his ability to influence people if he didn’t know Steve, but it was just Steve being Steve.

"You convinced me," the ogre said, and then she whispered, "Care to join a prison break?"

"Of course," the team answered.

"Be ready then."

Deep at night one prisoner screwed open the lock. Then they overcome a guard, who forced the prison guard to lead them to the armory. When the prisoners took back the weapons and freed other people, they stormed out of the prison.

Steve, Tony and Storm went to the ruler's house. It was built of luxury and decadence, with an overabundance of gold and jewels. Everything there reeked of money. When they sneaked inside, avoiding guards on patrol, they found that the war lord drinking with a fiend in a study. When the war lord saw them, her face tensed. She took out her weapon and asked, “Who’re you?”

Storm quickly answered, "My Lord, I don't know you're here. We'll proceed as you directed." Then she attacked the war lord.

The war lord managed to avoid her blow and shouted at the fiend," You want to kill me?"

"Of course not, it's a lie!" the fiend said.

"I don't believe you, Guards!"

Then a fight broke out between them, the guards and the fiend. One of the guard tried to attack Storm, but Storm valiantly block the attack and used her spear to topple his weapon. Then she threw the guard at another. The guard who was being hit shouted at the attacker, and pounced on him, fighting among themselves. The team used this state of chaos to used one as a shield against another’s attack and maintained an advantage. The fiend finally was captured, and the war lord turned to them. Then they heard shout of anger and smell of smoke. People rushed in. "You cheated us, making us pay for what's free!" One of the female ogres shouted. "I won't support you anymore."

No one knew what she talked about. But the war lord turned pale. "No! I provided the best entertainment!"

“I paid a lot of money and you cheated me out of it,” the ogre said. Then the ogre prisoner leader appeared with his troops and joined the fight, killing the war lord. Tony was a bit confused at first, but when Steve, Storm and he met Jan and Peter again, they knew the truth.

When Jan and Peter were outside worrying, they thought of a great plan: they spread a rumour that the war lord was embezzling their money instead of providing a fight. As the scheduled fight didn’t happen because of the trouble at the war lord’s home, the already annoyed public turned into an angry mob. They originally had planned for causing trouble to the guards so they could sneak in and not prepared for the fact that the public outside would start a riot, but they were happy with the development.

There was a banquet. The prisoner leader treated them as great guest and they ate and drunk. Tony was surprised that the food and wine were good. People danced and sung in the city. Then they heard a loud and unified war song. The voice weren't that great, but Tony felt that it fueled his fighting spirit and he finally understood where this city’s creativity came from. He also heard that the deceased war lord ruled them with promise of great exclusive entertainment. Now that they saw the actual fight themselves, the people who spent time and money queuing felt cheated - they could see better fight outside! So they started a riot. Finally the new warlord thanked them before sending them out to the nearest portal.

“The second place’d be better,” Peter chanted when they got through the portal.

* * *

  
“I think I just jinxed myself,” Peter said.

Tony couldn’t help but agreed. The second city they went should be a beautiful place. The houses had red brick roofs and white walls, forming a regular pattern. There was a statue in a round square, which depicted a person with a book in her hand. The sky was blue and without any hint of cloud. It was sunny and hot. Although Tony was just wearing a robe, he already felt sweat on his back. However, when Tony took a closer look, he soon discovered that the houses were in desperate need of repair. Paint was ripping off and there were ruins of houses not far away. When they walked closer, pungent smoke of a big fire and a human preacher shouting his decrees kind of ruined the scene. People there were burning paintings, wooden statues and to Tony’s dismay, books. He stretched out a hand, trying to save them and was pulled aside. It was Steve, who looked similarly distressed. “Don’t act too hastily,” Steve said.

“The sin of the land is overthrowing! No more decadence! No more excessive things! No more dalliance with the outsiders! The ruler has angered the sky and now he need to pay the price!” The Preacher shouted from his throat.

Tony frowned. He didn’t like this kind of rhetoric. In his experience it only led to bad things. However, the crowd seemed to swallow it easily. Although the crowd was big, they were quiet and seemed very concentrated on the Preacher's speech.

The Preacher shouted at the crowd, and the crowd cheered. Then the Preacher continued his speech. He was championing an overthrow of the ruler, whose sins he said would bring horrible disaster down the place. The evil outsiders should meet similar fate, he said. Tony shuddered.

Tony noticed that the ground was dry enough that it broke and the plants were dying. Then they asked the local people what was happening. A woman said, “It’s depressing, how we’re hit by natural disasters again and again. The ruler’s not doing much and, well, the Preacher seems to be our last hope. So there’ll probably be a rebellion, I don’t know.”

After listening to the woman, the team gathered away from the crowd to speak. “I have a bad feeling about the preacher,” Steve said.

“Do you think it’s the way he said people like us should be thrown into hellish fire without delay?” Peter asked.

“Not only that. He was familiar in a way but I couldn’t recall. The Hate-Monger.”

“Are you sure?”

“The way he spoke to the crowd, the way the people were excited, it reminded me of him.”

“Then we should follow him.”

When the team was following him, they found that the Preacher was meeting some lizard men, clearly outsiders of this city judged by their colourful clothes, as most the city residents wore white. It seemed to be against his speech, Tony thought. They noted down those people’s faces and followed them, seeing that they went west and disappeared into a cave. When they went nearer, they were attacked. The lizard men swung at them with their powerful tails, which Steve defended with his shield. The lizard men were fast despite their sizes, and the fight seemed not to be in the team’s favour. A fighter joined the fight and aided them. She marked one of the lizard men and used her ability to complement Jan and Steve. After the battle, the team said, “Thank you very much. How should I address you?”

The fighter pulled out a piece of cloth to wipe out the blood on her sword and said, “I’m Carol, the captain of the city palace guard. Who are you, and why are you here?”

When the team explained their mission, the fighter said, “Here’s not been much creative endeavour recently. People can’t afford it, and the Preacher... You see the fire?”

The team nodded. Carol continued, “It’s just sad. People’re so desperate... You said you’re following the Preacher? Well, I’m investigating him too. His appearance’s just... uncanny.”

When Storm asked about the ruler, Carol agreed that the ruler might not seem very effective in her rule, but she thought it should be blamed on the disasters. “I don’t believe the Preacher and the so called sin rhetoric. I grew up with her. She’s too kind-hearted to commit the so called sin. It’s totally nonsense.” When the team asked why the ruler didn’t take action against the preacher, the captain said that he was too popular to deal with. That was why she was collecting evidence against him. When she left, she told them that they should coordinate their effort. “I can’t wait to bring him down,” Carol smiled.

Tony and his team debated how to help the city. Steve said, “We need to get water to the city. Otherwise there’d soon be no cities to speak of.”

Storm said, “We may need to go to the water plane for a trip, to direct the water here.”

They returned to Sigil to prepare for the diving gears. Then Tony and his team went to the water plane. The Elemental Plane of Water was a sea without a floor or a surface, an entirely fluid environment lit by a diffuse glow. As there was no air, Tony and his team needed diving gear to survive here. The eternal oceans of this plane varied between ice cold and boiling hot, between saline and fresh. They were perpetually in motion, wracked by currents and tides. The plane’s permanent settlements formed around bits of flotsam and jetsam suspended within this endless liquid. These settlements drift on the tides of the Elemental Plane of Water. On one of them they found a water elemental, whose tip of hands and hair reeked of water. They asked if it could direct water to the city. Then the elemental told them, “I know the city, but actually there was a magic barrier there to prevent natural water from coming in. So without removing the barrier, we can’t help you.”

“How can we solve it?”

“It bears the magic of the god of plague. That’s what all I can tell.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

On their way back to the city, Peter asked, “Why can a god of plague bring drought?”

“The symbolic weather of a plague god is the feverish dry and hot days. Therefore if the god’s in charge of the land, there’ll be no cloud, not to mention rain,” Storm answered.

“It explains why the city’s so horribly hot,” Jan said.

They returned to the city. This time they were intercepted by a rebel woman, who tried to fight them and said, “Outsiders, left!”

Jan said, “We’re trying to save your city.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“You can tag along to see if we’re telling the truth.”

“Of course I will. I need to have an eye on you all, and only hard evidence would make me believe you.”

When they walked along, they learned more about what the rebels thought of the situation and the rebel woman’s name, Jessica. When Jessica heard about their previous meeting with Carol, there was a complex expression on her face, which passed too fast for Tony to decipher it.

“I think there must be something in that cave,” Jan said.

“I agree. Let’s go there at night to avoid notice,” Steve said.

When they went into the cave, they found that it was dark and big. Steve lit up a torch and they found that the cave was seemingly empty. Not giving up, the team started a search and found out that there was an artifact underground. It was black and made of metal. There was a complicated mark crafted onto it. Tony could sense magic emitting from the artifact. He regretted he slept through too many religion lessons to understand what it meant. When they dug it up, Storm saw it and frowned. “I understand now. This bears the mark of the god of Plague. Someone conducted a ritual to bind the place to her so natural disasters repeatedly occurred in the city. . Now I need to conduct a ritual to break the bond. I can’t be distracted throughout the process; otherwise the bond would remain intact.”

“So we can’t simply destroy it?” Jan asked.

“Yes. It’s too powerful for us to break it, and simply breaking it won’t solve the problem anyway. We needed to break the bond between the land and this artifact.”

“How do I know that you aren’t the one who have it buried here?” Jessica asked.

Tony was startled because he already forgot her presence, but Jan replied, “What can we earn by doing this? Besides, if we really want to lie, why do it here and not some flashy place?”

Jessica thought for awhile, and then she said, “You’re right. I hope you can really solve the drought.”

Storm stood on the ground and started waving her hands in complicated gesture, summon her god’s power. Then the team was attacked. Jessica recognized one of the masked minions as a fellow rebel. She told her fellow rebel to stop. “They’re helping us. Don’t attack!” The rebel hesitated, then he was attacked from behind by another, who said that anyone trying to disturb the artifact underground were to be killed. Jessica was angry, and aided the team to fight against them.

Steve and Jan focused on protecting Storm from being disturbed, while Tony and Peter delivered the attack. Jessica pulled out her drow long knife and hand axe to join the fight. She was formidable with her double weapons and soon the minion learned to avoid her, but she was too quick for that.

After they won the fight, Steve healed the hurt rebel and they interrogated the captured minions. “Who send you in?” Steve asked in a manner that even Tony found intimidating. The minions looked at each other and hesitated. Then Steve stared at them sharply. Finally they spoke. They were hired by the Preacher to protect the magical artifact underground, but when they heard about its use, their faces went pale and said that if only they had known, they wouldn’t have helped the Preacher. “This’s my home too,” one of them said. Another nodded.

After the ritual had finished, they ran back to the city to find the Preacher, who was about to command the revolt. The team passed through the crowd and tried to reveal his plan. At first no one listened to them. But then Jessica said, “Believe them! I see it with my eyes!” and people started to hesitate. Tony could hear that they were debating because they recognized her face. When they showed the artifact to the crowd, one rebel shouted, “I know it. The Preacher told me to bury it!” There was sound of shrieking in the crowd. Storm casted a reveal truth spell on the Preacher, who disclosed that he was actually a fiend and was the mastermind behind the natural disaster. “You fool! My plan’s about to succeed and I’ll soon rule the city!” The crowd was very surprised, and then they talked to each other angrily. Finally Jessica shouted, “Down with the fiend!” and she was followed by others, trying to catch the Preacher. The Preacher casted magic at the crowd, which was countered by Storm and Tony.

Then one screamed, “Look at the sky!” When Tony raised his head, he saw that the dark cloud formed in the sky and then the rain started to fall. Everyone rejoiced. Children played in the rain, laughing. Some danced with the people nearby. Some rushed home and appeared again, with containers in their hands to take the water. Some drank the rain from the sky directly. In this wave of excitement, the preacher used this chance to escape.

The rain hadn’t stopped for a day. After that, the ruler held a party for everyone and invited the team to celebrate it. Tony appreciated the murals on the wall. He might not understand it - they had a different aesthetic from his own- but he had been in Sigil too long not to appreciate that they were also art. The food was great. Peter drowned himself in the meat, while the others were not sloth in eating either. It had been a long time for them to eat decent food.

After that, they went to the third city.

* * *

  
The third city had been advertised as the world’s greatest carnival back in Sigil, but when Tony and his team arrived here, the first lich was single-eyed, the second tried to pick their pocket, the third was setting a fire to burn a house, and people nearby ignored it. There was a floating parade while the lich people dressed as Celestials and fiends, but their skeleton bodies didn’t make it very convincing. The parade was very crowded and the people sang and danced around it, while at the next street a dead body stared at them with empty eye sockets. This did feel like a carnival, but one of death and urban decay.

The air was filled with the pungent smell of tanning, smoke and human waste. Children were waving wooden swords and playing some sort of fighting games on the road. When Tony came nearer, he saw that they were actually mimicking some kind of murder scene. It made Tony shudder. He thought it was a scene exclusive to the evil planes. One lich youngster was drawing graffiti on the wall with his fingers only, who soon was dragged aside and beaten hard by another lich. The third lich drew all over the graffiti and started another picture on the original place. More lich youngsters arrived and there was a gang fight. A lich across the street was watching Tony with a calculating glint. Tony instinctively tensed. This place reminded Tony of the Hive, where the violent gangs frequented in Sigil.

After fighting off three attempt of picking their pockets, the team was approached by a lich with wild eyes. She asked, “Do you want Wonder Dust? I sell them at very cheap price. Don’t miss the chance,” while she held Tony’s arm tight.

Another lich woman squeezed the first away and said, “Don’t believe her. Her goods‘re bad. Buy mine instead.”

“Hey!” the first lich woman shouted angrily.

“Every word of mine is true.”

The first said, “Don’t believe her. She’s just---”

The second elbowed the first. Then they started to fight. Suddenly arrows shot from the first woman’s hand, while the second control a fire nearby to form a wall to protect herself. A crowd was forming around them. The team quickly ran away.  
.  
Then a lich woman approached them. She seemed harmless and Tony was less on guard.

“I need to ask you for a favour,” the lich woman said when she led them to her home. “My brother‘s been kidnapped. Only you can save him.”

“Why?” Storm asked.

“My brother’s a painter. He has been working on his projects and kept saying that some big change was going to happen to the city. This doesn’t help him make friends. One week ago he came to visit me and said he might be in danger very soon, and if he disappeared, I should ask for help. I didn’t believe him as first, because... you saw the drug peddlers? Wonder Dust’s huge recently and my brother’s an addict. I think it’s just his drug speaking, but when he really disappeared, I couldn’t find him anywhere. No one could tell me anything. Then an envelope arrived and contained a note and a painting of your team. In the note he said you can help. I can’t pay you much, but...”

“We’ll help you,” Steve said. Others nodded. .

When the woman led them to her brother’s house, they found that it was ransacked. The furniture were overturned and chopped into half. There were axe marks on the wall. There were a lot of paintings, but the canvas were ripped, torn and cut. Obviously the people were through with the damage.

Storm said, “I think the paintings may give us clue, otherwise they won’t be so damaged. Let’s try to repair them.

Jan said, “It’s a good idea,” and they bent down trying to repair them, but it was a hard job.

“Maybe there’re people who do this as a trade,” Peter suggested.

When they went outside to ask, they found a drunk who the people nearby claimed that she was great at this. They invited the drunk to the house. However, the woman requested a very rare kind of drink before she got to work. To get the drink, the team needed to go outside the city to the only brewer which produced the kind of wine. They ended up spent half of the day travelling. When the woman drunk the wine, she put her hands on the pictures, they were restored to original status. They paid and thanked her.

The pictures used wild colours and broad strokes. Some were very hard to decipher what were being painted, but one of them caught their eyes as it depicted a fiend holding a book to read. This was also the most damaged picture.

Peter wondered aloud, “I wonder if the fiend’s involved.”

“It seemed that in the cities we visited so far, a fiend‘s involved in the cities’ trouble,” Storm said.

“It’ll explain why it’s so damaged. Someone doesn’t want us to see it,” Steve said.

“Then let’s find the fiend,” Jan said. The team thus decided to follow up on this lead.

They went to a crowded pub to ask about the fiend. It was a homely pub, with wooden wall panels and wooden stools. People there were reluctant to talk at first, but a run of drink on the house started to loosen the clients’ tongue. The bartender complained that there were fewer clients now as they all went for Wonder Dust. “Everyone’s into Wonder Dust. No one drink anymore.”

One customer said, “Well, you can’t blame them much. I tried it once. The high brought by the drug... But I lost memory of the whole day and found myself naked, penniless on the street. I don’t dare try it again. “

Another agreed, and said, “Don’t you think the city’s getting weirder? So many strange things occurred, done by those who took Wonder Dust. I say the city’s getting more and more out of control, when more people take Wonder Dust” The she didn’t say any more. Several customers whispered that the drug did bring a high, and could make people do weird things. When pushed, one of them said she saw a person spontaneously burst into flame. Another told them that she saw a person floating in mid-air. The stories were getting weirder and weirder. Tony suspected that some was the effect of alcohol, but he ‘d been in Sigil too long that he knew everything could happen. It sounded like a sudden outburst of psionic power in very unstable hands. It could quickly get explosive.

Further drink later, they talked about the local gangs, who were fighting turf wars and caused a lot of trouble. “For the drug trade, mostly,” one explained. Another sighed, saying that she’d lost several brothers to it. Finally one whispered to the team that there was a rumour that a certain drug lord was meeting a mystical person that was the kind of people one shouldn’t see, according to her cook. When they asked about the drug lord, one of them whispered, “You know, she just hired me and my friends to do a quick job to strengthen her dungeon. Pay very well even. It’s as if she had a new special prisoner here.” When they got more information, they went to the drug lord’s mansion.

Through chatting with those who worked there, they managed to confirm that the young man was kept in a cell by the local drug lord. Therefore they formed a plan to save the young man.

They pretended to be the drug lord’s servants by dressing in their uniform bought from them. When they asked the servants for that, they were surprised that the servants were eager to help. The servants told them that they disliked the prison guards, who held themselves too high and willing to help in anything to bring them down and eat dirt. Then they brought great food down to the jail and told the guards that the drug lord rewarded them for their hard work. The prison guards were happy and ate the food cheerfully, tipping the team even. Then they slowly got asleep because the food was drugged. They went through the jail and found a young man drawing pictures all over the jail. He fitted the description and Peter picked the lock, bringing him outside the jail. They stole uniforms of the prison guards to cover their identity.

They tried to talk to him once they found a safe deserted house outside. However, he seemed to be mentally unstable and incoherent. His eyes were wild, his body convulsed and his babbling was indecipherable. Worried, they found a doctor. The doctor looked at the young man and frowned, saying that the young man was suffering from the effect of Wonder Dust and left, because she refused to help those who chose to poison themselves. When she left, Storm threw out her healing spell one by one and finally it worked, rendering the young man coherent and conscious enough to communicate with them.

“Thanks for saving me,” the young man said, “Otherwise I don’t know what‘ll soon happen.”

“Do you know why the drug lord’s keeping you?”

“Well you know the drug Wonder Dust, right? It drives the takers crazy, but it also gives people weird power. Me, it let me see and depict the near future in my paintings. I was too unstable to make use of it, but somehow the drug lord discovered it and kept me in a cell, fully addled, to tell fortune for her. Because my ability only works when I keep using the drug.”

Then he looked at the team with pleading eyes, “Can you get the pictures I drew them so that they‘ll no longer be in the drug lord’s hands? I don’t want to think of how my paintings may help the drug lord harm more people.”

The team agreed, so they returned to the drug lord’s house, where a party was being held. They darkened the house by summoning wind to take out the light, letting the guest there in a state of confusion and then ran up to search for the paintings. On the way they knocked down several guards to get in and out. Then they gathered the paintings together to decipher the content of them. They were quite symbolic at times, so it wasn’t easy, but they managed to piece together the situation.

Wonderdust wasn’t invented by the locals. A fiend went to the city and sold the drug to the gangsters, making fortune and using them to distribute the drug. The fiend’s plan was to turn the populace under his control.

“The fiend brought the drug to poison and get the people addicted. He never would have realized with the interaction of our biology, it brings us psychic ability at the price of insanity,” the young man said when he helped piece together the truth behind the drug.

Then they needed to decide what to do. The young man said there needed to be a cure for Wonderdust, but no one had developed one yet. Jan said, “I have an idea!” She continued, “My friend Hank‘s a brilliant alchemist. Surely he can invent an antidote to the drug.” Therefore they brought a sample to Hank in Sigil. Hank raised his glasses and he beamed when he saw them. Tony couldn’t tell whether it was because of seeing the sample or seeing Jan. Three days later Hank succeeded in producing an antidote. After experimenting the antidote’s effect on animals, they mixed the antidote in with the local water source so that the people here could be cured of their drug addiction. It seemed to work when on the street people were getting more coherent and the locals said less weird incident happen.

“But if the drug continues to exist, people’ll still get hooked to them,” Jan pointed out.

“So we need to start destroying the stock of Wonder Dust and draw the source off.”

The team gathered information about the location of the warehouse where the gangsters store Wonder Dust. Then after scouting the place at night, the team set out, distracted the guards and burnt the drug.

Lastly, they searched for the fiend, who lived in the drug lord’s mansion. They lured the fiend out to a restaurant they already reserved with promise of information about the people who’re against them, then they told the location to the drug lord under the pretense that the opposition were working there. Both sides believed the lie and went there to fight. After both sides exhausted, the team banished the fiend, and drew the drug lord out of the city too. After that they observed that the city was slowly returning to order, and when asked, though some of the locals missed their power, most of them were pleased that things came to an end. Tony was relieved to see that children’s game on the street was more peaceful. Then they were ready to set out for the next city.

* * *

  
According to Tony’s memory, this city was said to be a perfect place for one to get old. Great environment, good people and efficient rulers. But when the team arrived at the fourth city, they only felt despair in the air. People’s clothes were worn, their faces sad. The outermost ward of the city had hostels and inns for travelers, open-air markets, warehouses, and various restaurants, market stalls, florists, and other businesses reliant upon fresh goods from outside the city. It should be busy and boisterous, but instead there was a heavy silence. Most of the stores were closed and clearly in need of a paint job. There was a clock tower and the sound of bell sounded very sad to Tony’s ears. He frowned because he didn’t know that he could be so emotional. But perhaps the environment affected him. Even his teammates slowed down their steps, as if sensing the pressure in the air.

Right when they arrived they were stopped by the sheriff, whose fingers were greasy and his eyes small as beads. He demanded an impossibly huge amount of money from them, and threatened that otherwise he’d throw them in the jail. When they refused, the local sheriff led his people to capture them. Tony summoned mist to cloud the sheriff’s people’s eyes and the team used this chance to escape arrest. A local woman saw them and welcomed them in her home, saying that it was dangerous now to stay overnight outside. “It was safer before, but...” she said. The team agreed and thanked her. When they asked her about the city, she said, “Once we had a city of delight. Here we could enjoy our life freely and happily. But now things were very bad. The mayor ‘s corrupted and tried to squeeze every coin out of people’s bags. The local sheriff bullied the people and pulled anyone who couldn’t pay the tax into the prison. It’ll be utterly hopeless if not for...”

“If not for what?” Jan asked.

The woman whispered, “There’s a rumour that a masked vigilante who robbed the rich to feed the poor. I don’t know whether it’s true, but my neighbour’s friend swore to it, saying that the vigilante helped them from starvation.”

She continued, “Traditionally a sentient book choose the ruler of the city but now it was missing. No one knows where it is. This makes us more desperate.”

“Why don’t you just overthrow the mayor by yourselves?” Steve asked.

“The Mayor’s too strong for us to do that. We do our part, but a rebellion’s not easy.”

When they went to bed, Steve said, “There is so much oppression in the city. I just hope...”

Tony put a hand on him. “We’ll win and help save the city.”

“You’re right,” Steve smiled.

The next day, the local woman left in the morning and didn’t return again. Feeling worry, the team left the house and asked the locals about the woman. A woman heard their description and said, “I know her. She was arrested for being a rebel and about to be executed. I say it’s the Mayor setting an example and a trap. If she’s really a rebel, well, I have to admire her.” Tony held his fist so hard that he felt in pain. It’d be a failure on their part if they can’t even help someone who was good to them. He asked, “Can you tell me more about the woman?”

The team heard that the woman was still on her way to the execution ground, and they ran there to stop the cart and save the women. They tripped the horses carrying the cart, making it stop. Then Jan broke the lock with her axe and pulled out the weakened woman inside. The soldiers fought back, and arrows were shot from the above at them. Tony summoned the mist to cloud the shooters’ eyes, but the magic couldn’t endure very long and it already reach Tony’s spell limit in a day. Once the mist was dispersed, they would still be in trouble. Things didn’t look good on Tony’s side.

Then suddenly the arrows stopped.

People started to whisper, “Here she came!”

A masked woman in black appeared from above and shot down the archers. She looked at the soldiers and challenged them, “Who wants to come first?” Then the soldiers stopped and put down their weapons. The masked woman saved the team, bringing them into the forest. The team thanked her, and she said, “You‘re brave, but don’t think through enough.”

Peter shrugged, “It worked at the end, right? But thank you.”

“How do we address you?” Jan asked.

“They call me Captain Marvel,” the vigilante said.

Captain Marvel led them to the resting place by a brook. There they saw men and women working, singing and generally looked happier and healthier than the town people. Storm healed the woman they saved and the woman joined the people, chatting with enthusiasm. Then Captain Marvel left the team here, saying that she has thing to deal with. Using the time, the team asked around. All of them were either saved by Captain Marvel or inspired by her enough to join her. They whispered that Captain Marvel was preparing to start a rebellion to dispose the ruler, and they would gladly join and gather under her banner to fight. They were very thankful and respectful of Captain Marvel, and very eager to tell them of stories about her.

The team also took the chance to ask about the Book. “You may not understand, but the Book’s very important to us. It has chosen a line of rulers for us and has such a good track record; I don’t understand...” One of the people said.

“The mayor must have got corrupted by the power. He wasn’t such a bad person initially,” another said.

“I still don’t know why the Book’s missing. Do you think if the mayor burnt...” The first one said.

Another person interrupted. “No, it should be impossible. The Book’s magical. It has endured so many things that it’s practically invulnerable. ”

“Does it mean that it leaves us now?” The first one asked. She was met with silence and worry on people’s face.

Captain Marvel returned and comforted them, and then she pulled the team aside and said, “You can see that the Book had a very important symbolic value for us, and people’re very worried about its missing. Some even wonder if it means that the Book has deserted their city. Therefore it’s important to find it back.

Then Jan asked, “What does the Book look like?”

Captain Marvel described the Book. Jan said, “Hey! I remember. Do you recall the painting we saw of the fiend? He was drawn with a book just like that.”

“So it means a fiend’s involved again,” Peter said.

“It seemed to be a trend. But why were fiends so active in corrupting the cities?”

“I don’t think fiends need reasons to do evil.”

“Nevertheless, the rebellion’s soon to start. Can you help save the Book? It’s very important for us.”

When they asked the rebels, one of them said that she had heard a rumour that a fiend set up a house on the west side of the city. No one dared to come near it because they could hear screaming and painful groan emitting from the house at night. She added that it might be what they looked for.

The team went to the west side of the city and found the house by asking the locals. When they sneaked inside the house through the back door, the door closed by itself after them. They found that it was in fact a maze with a lot of puzzles and traps. The first puzzle consisted of gears, pulley and numbers that Tony solved with mathematics and engineering skill. Steve patted his shoulder friendlily and said, “Well done!” The second was a knot, which Jan solved by cutting it. Steve solved the third puzzle when he used the healing magic laying on hand on it. Storm easily solved the four which required knowledge about the deities and Peter used his knife trick to solve the fifth. There were a number of traps. One time Peter nearly stepped on a trip wire and a greased ramp opened up under him. Storm quickly held his arm, and the others helped by pulling him back.

“Thank you!” Peter gasped.

“No problem!” Jan said.

They had to check every door beforehand after a cruel lesson: one of them nearly led them to man-eating monsters and they had to fight their way back. Another nearly cut off their fingers. Tony didn’t want to know how the fiend would make use of them. After solving the puzzles and avoiding the traps, they finally reached the fiend. The fiend said, “You may have overcome my cleaver machination, but you’ll die here!” Then he attacked.

The team was in fighting formation. Steve summoned his deity’s power to smite evil. He used the valiant strike to protect his teammates when the fiend tried to get pass him. Storm used her Battle Cleric’s Lore to boost her teammates’ attack and used great spear to strike at the fiend. When the fiend tried to attack, Jan used Tide of Iron to push the fiend away from attacking her allies and attacked him with shield feint while Peter delivered his fast attack of daggers. Tony used the Wing Horde to give him free move, and then he used grasping shadow to attack. After their victory against the fiend, the fiend said, “You may defeat me, but you’ll never find the book!”

Just when he was saying it, a book appeared in the mid-air and the fiend screamed, “No, it isn’t impossible!” He waved his hand, probably trying to summon magic but Storm knocked him out. Then they took the Book back to the city centre. The book was leather bounded and in great condition. The rebels were already fighting the Mayor’s army and it was a stalemate so far. But when they saw that the Book returned, everyone including the Mayor’s soldier stopped fighting. The battleground became very quiet. All people focused on the Book.

The Book floated into the mid-air and above the crowd by itself, and it shone. Its pages turned open by itself and words appeared on it, “The Mayor’s now disposed.” Everyone rejoiced. The Mayor’s soldiers put down their weapons and surrendered. The Mayor still tried to struggle but the Book knocked on his head to make him unconscious. Then this former mayor was arrested by the rebels. Words then appeared on the Book to show the team the final place they should go: a fortress in the City of Chain, Baator. The team left after a celebration was held in the city. Captain Marvel was chosen by the Book to be the next Mayor and everyone agreed that it was a wise choice.

“Visit our city again when you have time,” the new mayor said.

Tony and his friends shook the mayor’s hand, and said, “Definitely.” They left with a high spirit.

* * *

  
It was the final place to go, and a fight seemed to be inevitable. Tony found his hands sweating. He looked at Steve, who put a hand over his shoulder and said, “We’ll win.” Tony smiled at Steve, warmed by his comfort. Then they started the journey to the final city.

They descended a long flight of iron stairs, which grew darker and darker until even the torch light were shrouded in shadow. Tony summoned magical light to illuminate the road before them. A thick curtain of iron chains served at doorway. Wind from the other way rattled the chains and the plate, making a chill and irritating sound. Tony thought about what was awaiting them.

Baator. Power over others. Tyranny, subjugation, hierarchy. Lies. Work the system. Rules were made to be broken, but you needed to break them the right way… because rules were useful for keeping those below you in line. Knew your place, but strove for better. Never betrayed your intentions, and didn't rock the boat too much, or you'll sink with it. Authority was a blunt instrument, but could be sharpened with reward and penalty. Any Tanar'ri idiot could threaten a life, but true power was convincing others to serve your needs _willingly_. If you were devious enough, you could win everything, but one step out of line and you were toast.

The door way led to an infinite swamp of mire and pollution. Rusty, acidic rain and harsh cold wind raged over the land. At its centre lay a metropolis as big as Sigil, which was continually sinking into the slump. At the edge of the metropolis they had to fight off slavers who wanted to force them into labour to help raise the metropolis. Their destination was in the metropolis, a city of chain. The city was suspended with thick chain to keep it from sinking. It was once a trade city, but its reputation for death and danger, even for a fiend’s standard grew beyond it and fewer traders went here. The journey was long and tiring, with them half sinking into the mud. Not far away they could see that slaves were forced to work by fiends with whips in their hands. Tony felt depressed by the journey and only seeing his team along with him gave him strength to carry on. He could understand why people called Baator as a literal hell along with Abyss.

When they reached the city, they tried their best to keep their head down and mixed in the crowd. Creatures which looked like humans twisted and turned by iron chains until there was only a glimpse of flesh walked the street, accompanied by hellhounds, who looked at them with hungry eyes. The creatures carried on their task hard to understand by the outsiders. There were other types of fiends, huge and small, but all equipped with fangs and claws. There were people from other races, with desperation in their eyes, so the team wasn’t so conspicuous to mix among them. Tony wondered what motivated these people to come here and was not certain whether he wanted to know.

They passed through the more dangerous portion of the city, and finally reached the fortress. When they reached the highest tower, they met the Baator Lord, who was leading a group of monsters and guards. “How dare you to foil my great plan, making me a laughing joke among other Baator Lords!” he shouted. “I ‘m so near to successfully corrupt the cities enough and pulled them into my domain. Now you people must pay the price!” The he ordered his guards and monsters to destroy the team. Steve and Jan were on front charging and marking the monsters, directing their attack away from their allies and delivering damages. The monsters groaned and screamed, stomping onto each other to hide from the attack. Tony and Storm casted spell to attack the monsters and enhanced their teammates’ ability while Peter used his speed to deliver a series of rapid attack. The guards screamed when Storm casted a spell to make a monster knocked into them, making them fall on the ground. When the team defeated the monsters and guards, they got to the Lord, and the fight with him was inevitable. Tony could feel a mix of excitement and worry.

The team was in a fighting formation. Steve used the divine challenge on the Baator Lord while Jan was ready to use her marking power to attack. When the Baator Lord chose to attack Peter instead probably because his armor was the weakest, Steve’s attack automatically and unavoidably dealt the scaling radiant damage while Jan’s attack lessened the Baator Lord’s attacking power. The Baator Lord shouted, “Good strategy, but it doesn’t mean... Oh” The attack on Peter also strengthened Steve’s power to deal attack against the Baator Lord. Storm waved her great spear to attack, bluffing her allies’ ability.

“Aren’t you a cleric?” the Baator Lord asked. “You should be staying at the back, not playing with the spear!”

Storm delivered another attack and said, “Well, and you’re the one hit by my playing with it.”

Peter charged to deliver multiple attack while Tony casted his magic on the Baator Lord. When the Baator Lord tried to attack Tony, Steve shielded Tony from the attack and dealt a hit using his great sword. The fight was long and hard, but the team was used to working with each other against odd. Finally they defeated the Baator Lord. Though tired and wounded, they smiled at each other with the feeling of a work well done. Then they stepped on the dangerous way back to the Infinite Staircase. The chaos caused by the demise of the Baator Lord made the returning journey harsh, and the team encountered a lot of danger, but finally they successfully escaped and left the city.  
  
“I hope I’ll never need to come here again,” Jan said. The others agreed.  
  
They returned to find their Illiani client at the Infinite Staircase, who thanked them for saving the cities and rewarded them. Once they returned to the familiar Sigil Detective Agency office, everyone was relieved. Steve threw a hand over Tony’s shoulder and said, “It's great that we finish the tasks and return safe.”  

“We all did a great job,” Storm said when holding Jan’s hand.

Peter joked, “We all need a long holiday.”

“Don't you think we have enough travelling?” Jan made a face.

“Not this kind!” Peter shouted.

Then there was another knock to the door. Tony sighed in a dramatic way and went to open the door. It was another new day to work. However, he had full confidence in his friends and him. They had already saved the worlds, and what other challenges could surprise them? He anticipated the next task to come, as he believed that with them together, they could deal with most of what Sigil could throw to them.


End file.
